


All Tongues, the Voice of Souls, Give Thee that Due

by Diaryofanarcissisticgayman



Series: Prompts [7]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, Chemistry Teacher!Louis, Coach!Liam, M/M, Math Teacher!Niall, The math and science departments are feuding with the language teachers, english teacher!harry, kind of, star-crossed lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-19
Updated: 2015-07-19
Packaged: 2018-04-10 01:08:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4371371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diaryofanarcissisticgayman/pseuds/Diaryofanarcissisticgayman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You know full well that you were staring at one of the Forbidden Ones!” Louis hisses.</p><p>“The Forbid- Christ Tommo, he’s an English teacher, not Voldemort.” Niall scoffs.</p><p>“I get that you’re new here, but there’s a way things work Horan.” Louis says haughtily. “Teachers of math and sciences don’t fraternize with the language department drones. They just don’t.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Tongues, the Voice of Souls, Give Thee that Due

**Author's Note:**

> I received the 'Romeo and Juliet of the math and English dept. in school’ prompt on tumblr from narrysailsitself I hope you like it. Thanks for giving me a fun prompt to work with =)
> 
> P.S. the title is from Shakespeare's sonnet number 69 because I'm a cheeky devil.

“Stop it!” Louis hisses with a firm smack to the back of Niall’s head.

“Christ Tomlinson!” Niall yelps, rubbing the sore spot with his hand while he glares at the man standing next to him in line.

“Not my name, but I like the comparison.” Louis smirks, decidedly ignoring the glare that Niall throws at him. “Now stop it.”

“Wasn’t doing anything.” Niall mutters, grabbing a sandwich at random out of the selection since all of them seem equally disgusting. He’s been spoiled too much lately with good food, and now that school is back in session, he’s stuck with this pre-made crap. It’s not fair.

“You know full well that you were staring at one of the Forbidden Ones!” Louis hisses.

“The Forbid- Christ Tommo, he’s an English teacher, not Voldemort.” Niall scoffs.

“I get that you’re new here, but there’s a way things work Horan.” Louis says haughtily. “Teachers of math and sciences don’t fraternize with the language department drones. They just don’t.”

“I’m not new. I taught summer school and they offered me a full-time position afterwards. And that’s stupid Louis.” Niall grumbles, grabbing a banana and a jug of milk out of the line of refrigerators before heading over to pay for his meal. “You shouldn’t let your department decide who you associate with.”

“Oh, my dear, sweet, naïve little blond friend.” Louis sighs. “Trust me, it really isn’t worth it. We’re just too different. They’re all about fantasy and frivolous little things. They don’t connect to reality the way we do.”

“Just because I teach math doesn’t mean I’m a robot Louis.” Niall tells him. “I enjoy a good book or fantasy. I enjoy frivolous little things.”

“Niall, I am begging you to just let it go.” Louis pleads. “There are plenty of other guys for you that don’t work in the English department. Forget about Styles.”

“Whatever.” Niall huffs, shrugging his shoulders because he really doesn’t want to keep up this conversation anymore.

“Oh, I know! I’ll set you up with Payno!” Louis says with a gleeful laugh. 

Niall doesn’t really pay any attention to the conversation from there, choosing instead to just nod at appropriate intervals while Louis rambles on about whatever he’s talking about, and steal glances across the teachers’ lounge at the long-haired brunet he enjoys looking at so much. When Harry catches him staring, Niall doesn’t look away. The way things are done be damned.

 

Harry follows the directions on the sticky note, a private code for just the two of them. He knocks on the door once he checks around to make sure that nobody else is around, and it opens just enough for him to be yanked inside. “You’re shit at these. Takes you half an hour to figure out where you’re supposed to go and we don’t have any time left when you get here.” Niall hums.

“I’m getting better.” Harry pouts.

“Sure you are Styles. Sure you are.” Niall chuckles, planting his hands on Harry’s hips to direct him to the back of the storage room that they’re in. It’s better than a broom closet, but not by much. “Now are you going to keep talking, or are you going to kiss me for what little time we have left?”

“I think you enjoy these little meet-ups a bit too much.” Harry says, attaching his mouth to Niall’s jaw and working his way back. “Especially considering we spend practically every night together.”

“It’s the sneaking around thing.” Niall admits, his voice gone a bit high as his grip tightens on Harry’s hips. “Thought it was stupid when you said that we’d have to do it, but fuck if it doesn’t turn me on.”

“Ah, a public sex kink.” Harry smirks, taking Niall’s earlobe between his teeth and biting with just the right amount of pressure to make Niall muffle a moan in Harry’s shoulder. He lathes over the tender skin with his tongue before releasing it to murmur “Does the possibility of getting caught turn you on Ni?”

“It might.” Niall groans, dropping to his knees and fiddling with Harry’s belt. “But I don’t fancy losing my job for it, so I hope you’re quick.”

“Think I can manage.” Harry mutters, lacing his fingers into Niall’s hair as the blond takes him down his throat.

 

“Fucking hate school food.” Niall sighs, staring forlornly as Harry packs his lunch for the day.

“I know hon.” Harry says sympathetically.

“What is this stupid feud even about?” Niall asks.

“Don’t really know for sure to be honest.” Harry admits. “It’s been going on since last year and nobody ever really confirmed what had happened. We all used to get along, and then one day it just stopped. The new school year started and something had happened that made all of the math and science teachers pull away from the language teachers. I have a pretty good idea, but it’s not something that I can really talk about, and I’m not completely sure that it’s it anyways.”

“I didn’t realize that working in a high-school made it a requirement for the staff to act like teenagers.” Niall scoffs.

“Nobody ever really grows up Ni.” Harry hums. “We’re all sixteen at heart.”

“Would explain your libido.” Niall snorts.

“Don’t seem to remember you complaining last night.” Harry smirks.

“Didn’t give me time to get in a word edgewise, now did you?” Niall grins. “Had your tongue in my mouth all night.”

“Just trying to clean the taste of that egg-salad sandwich out for you.” Harry giggles.

“Ugh! School food!” Niall groans, dropping his head back down on the table and whining until they have to head out in separate cars.

 

“Niall!” Louis says loudly, waving his hand in front of the blond’s eyes. “Hey!”

“Sorry, what were you saying?” Niall asks.

“I was asking how you felt about Italian food.” Louis sighs.

“It’s food.” Niall shrugs. “I like it alright. I’m not really picky, why?”

“Because Liam was thinking of taking you to the Olive Garden, but he wanted to be sure that you’d like it before he set anything up.” Louis hums.

“Wait- What?” Niall asks, his eyes widening in surprise.

“Don’t worry, it won’t be a blind date. I’ve pulled some strings to make sure you two are paired together at the pep-rally today.” Louis says with a proud grin. “Did you a right favor by the way. You were paired with Styles before.”

“I know.” Niall says flatly.

“Now you don’t have to sit next to his boring, poetry-reading ass for a full hour.” Louis smirks. “Unfortunately, that means I will.”

“Tommo, you really didn’t need to do that.” Niall sighs.

“I know, but now you owe me.” Louis hums before he picks up his plate and walks towards the exit without giving Niall a chance to point out that this is in no way a favor and he owes Louis nothing except a nice smack to the back of the head.

 

He’s being obvious. He knows he’s being obvious. He can’t stop it though. Every time Niall’s trademark laugh rings out from where he’s sitting next to Coach Payne, Harry’s face gets a little stormier and the ball of jealousy in his stomach gets that much closer to snapping. Even the students are starting to notice. He catches a few of them looking curiously at him after his fifth glance towards Niall in the last two minutes, but ignores them in favor of practically biting through the inside of his cheek.

“If you start eating your own face in front of the kids I’m going to laugh my ass off.” Louis sniggers next to him.

“Oh, I’m sorry, were you talking to me?” Harry scoffs. “Aren’t you afraid of being shunned if you do that?”

“Harry-” Louis sighs.

“Shut up Louis. It’s what you’re good at, isn’t it?” Harry mutters, turning his gaze back on Niall and Coach Payne. His eyes practically bulge out of his head the he sees Niall’s hand on Liam’s bicep, lips quirked up in a playful smile.

It’s not like they’ve ever said they were exclusive. They’ve only been seeing each other for a few weeks really, just since the middle of the summer-school season. But Harry thought that they had something special. He thought that all the things they’ve done, that the way they started seeing each other, that that all meant something.

 

It had all started when they were watching the students during the lunch period one day during summer school. Niall had been huffing and puffing about how bad the school food was, sweating and grumbling and just generally being fed up with everything, but Harry thought he was enchanting. He’d stared at Niall for five minutes straight before he offered him some of the paella that he’d brought for lunch.

The next day it was stir-fry, and after that Harry just started bringing two lunches because none of the other teachers ever showed up to monitor the lunch periods, so nobody would be any the wiser about the departmental crossover. When Harry finally worked up the nerve to ask for Niall’s number, the blond had written out an equation on a piece of paper. “I’ll give you one a day, in order, in exchange for the meals.” he’d said with a cheeky wink before heading off with his students. “All you have to do is solve for x.”

And really, Harry was a bit shit at math. Always had been really. But he fucking threw himself into the work, refusing to use a calculator or google or anything to help. He was going to do this right, because it was probably the most romantic story he’d ever heard, and he couldn’t wait to tell people down the line how they’d gotten together.

Of course he also couldn’t be outdone, so he started putting one sonnet a day into Niall’s lunches, watching bashfully as Niall read over them with a blush, before folding them up carefully and sticking them in his wallet. On the tenth day Harry had finally gotten all of the pieces for Niall’s phone number, and the second the bell rang and the students stampeded out of the school, Harry used it.

He sauntered down the hall to where Niall’s classroom was, leaning against the doorjamb while the phone rang in his hand. Niall had smirked as he picked up with a feigned obliviousness and said “Hello? Who is this?”

“Harry Styles, from the school.” Harry had chuckled.

“So you figured it out already?” Niall laughed. “I was expecting a few more days honestly. What can I do you for Mr. Styles?”

Harry barely covered the shiver from the suggestive tone Niall had used when he asked that. He’d kicked one leg up on the desk, leaving the other firmly planted on the floor so that his legs were spread wide with his hand teasing at the inside of his own thigh while he looked Harry right in the eyes. The brunet had to bite his lip to stifle a groan before he asked “Was wondering if you’d like to go out for a drink with me tonight?”

“Don’t know.” Niall hummed. “Got a lot of papers to grade.”

“We can just do it at your place then.” Harry offered with a sly grin. “I’ll bring margarita supplies and I’ll even throw in a new red pen for you to work with.”

“Now how could I turn that down?” Niall mused. “When do you propose we meet up?”

“Could do now, if you don’t mind stopping somewhere for me to grab a few supplies.” Harry smirked.

“Not at all. I’ll grab some steaks and we’ll make a proper night of it.” Niall had said with a nod. “Now I’ve got to go. There’s a man in my door and I’ve got to see what he wants.”

“Just don’t forget about me.” Harry had giggled before Niall hung up.

“Anything I can do for you?” Niall asked once his phone was dropped on his desk.

“You free tonight?” Harry laughed, playing along with Niall’s ridiculous little game because he was just so fucking cute.

“Nope, sorry mate. Just made a hot date. Looks like you missed your chance.” Niall hummed.

“Lucky bastard.” Harry smirked, and that was it. Harry was smitten from that conversation. Probably before that if he’s being honest. They’d only ended up grading a few papers that night before the margaritas had taken over and they’d ended up making out on the couch all night instead.

 

But now, now Niall is openly flirting with Coach Payne right in front of Harry’s face, and the brunet’s nails are digging into his skin so hard that he’s pretty sure he’s going to feel it for days. “I did that.” Louis hums when he notices that Harry is watching the pair laugh and smile and just be generally nauseating together. “They’re cute together, aren’t they?”

“You- You what?” Harry chokes out.

“I set them up.” Louis says simply.

“You absolute fucking moron!” Harry says through gritted teeth.

“What?” Louis asks, his eyes wide with shock.

“I’m so glad Zayn dumped your ass.” Harry growls. He looks away before he can see the look of pain flash over his former friend’s face. The pain that he’d purposely put there. The pain that had caused Louis to pull away from the language department, and take all of the math and science teachers with him. The pain that had started a staff-wide feud, even if nobody actually said anything and Zayn had left for another schooling opportunity just to try and help solve it.

Louis lets out this defeated little sound, this sniffle, and Harry’s anger dissipates. “Shit, Louis I’m sorry.” Harry says softly. “I didn’t mean that.”

“Then what did you mean Styles?” Louis asks in a harsh hiss.

“Fuck, I don’t know. I’m just upset.” Harry admits.

“Why? You’ve known Liam for ages. You could have asked him out by now if- Oh.” Louis says with a little gasp. “It’s not Liam is it?”

“No.” Harry says quietly.

“You like Niall?” Louis asks disbelievingly.

“We’ve um- We’ve kind of been seeing each other for a while.” Harry confesses. “Since we were teaching summer school together, so about ten weeks. We didn’t tell anyone because of the damn feud, but now- Now-”

“Now I’ve gone and thrown a wrench into things.” Louis sighs.

“More than one.” Harry mutters, turning back away from the other pair to focus on the end of the principle’s speech.

 

He’s left fourteen voice messages, and at least three dozen texts, but Harry hasn’t responded to any of them, so now- Now Niall has had to trudge across town at close to midnight just to see what his boyfriend’s problem is, because he never showed up to the date they had planned. The date that Niall has been planning for weeks and had gotten reservations for. The date where Niall was going to propose that they come out with their relationship at school because he’s tired of hiding in storage rooms, and eating lunch separately, and Louis trying to set him up with the gym teacher.

He knocks on the door, hears shuffling and muffled cursing inside, and then a loud sigh from just beyond the wood before it opens up. “What are you doing here Niall?” Harry asks wearily.

“You’d already know that if you ever looked at your phone.” Niall grits out. “We had plans Harry. We had a date and I sat there in that restaurant waiting for you for two hours, hoping like an idiot that you’d show up, even though every minute that passed told me that was less and less likely. Then I had to come check to make sure you were at least alive and hadn’t gotten in an accident on the way there or something, but now that I see you’re fine, I guess I can finally be pissed off.”

“Guess so.” Harry says with a shrug, his eyes glued to the carpet.

“Whatever. Louis was right about your department.” Niall spits out. “Guess you can’t trust someone who cares more about fantasy than reality. Bye Harry. It was nice while it lasted.”

He turns on his heel to walk away, but Harry stops him dead in his tracks with a muttered “Have fun with Liam.”

“Liam?” Niall squeaks. “What the bloody hell are you talking about? What does Coach Payne have to do with anything?”

“Heard you two were going on a date tomorrow.” Harry says bitterly.

“No, Louis tried to set us up, but neither of us were interested.” Niall tells him. “Because Liam is head over heels for Louis, just like I am for you, you fucking idiot.”

“You flirted with him through the entire pep-rally.” Harry says icily.

“Because he wanted my help making Louis jealous!” Niall hisses. “That’s all that was! Do you really think that I’d be that kind of guy Harry? Do you think I’d actually flirt with someone while we’re together? Because I’m really serious about this relationship, but if that’s the kind of person that you think I am, then obviously you don’t think I’m good enough to be with you.”

“Niall-” Harry starts, but Niall isn’t nearly finished.

“Do you even know why tonight was so important to me?” Niall asks. “Do you know why I made reservations at the nicest restaurant I could find, even though my salary is for shit? Because I was going to ask you to go public with me. I was going to tell you that I’m so fucking done with not being able to show the world how much I love you. I was going to say that I don’t care if I lose every friend I’ve made on the staff, because as long as I have you, then none of that matters to me. But no! No, you assumed that I’m the kind of guy that just fucks around and doesn’t care about the person he’s with. You assumed that I don’t care about you and just ignored me instead of talking to me about it.”

Harry is standing shock-still, eyes as wide as the moon, and Niall just sighs and turns to walk away again. “You- You love me?” Harry asks, voice barely above a whisper.

“Did. Not sure if I do right at this moment.” Niall huffs. “You’re a dick Styles.”

“I’m an idiot for sure.” Harry groans, pressing his palms into his eyes. “I’m sorry Ni. I just got so jealous when I saw you with him and-”

“I should have let you in on it beforehand.” Niall sighs. “I just thought that you’d give me the benefit of the doubt at least. I thought you’d know better than to think I’d run around on you Harry.”

“I should have.” Harry says quietly. “Can- Can we go back to before I fucked everything up?”

“I don’t know. I’m pretty pissed off right now.” Niall grumbles.

“I’ll make it up to you. Just give me a chance Ni.” Harry pleads.

“Fine.” Niall nods after a minute. “But this is it Harry.”

“I won’t let you regret it.” Harry says firmly. “Do you want to come in?”

“Have you got food?” Niall asks. “I’m fucking starving. They stopped bringing me bread after the second basket.”

“I’ll make anything you want.” Harry says with a shy smile. Niall starts to step inside, but before he can get anywhere Harry snakes a hand around his waist and pulls him into a searing kiss. Niall lets himself be manhandled up against the wall, Harry’s lips working against his in perfect synch. It leaves him breathless and clutching around Harry’s neck because his legs have gone boneless. Harry breathes heavily with him, the air split between the two of them, and it makes Niall feel a bit lightheaded. That’s nothing though, not when compared to the way he feels when Harry murmurs “By the way, I love you too, and I want everyone to know it.”

 

The next morning they drive together, and they walk into school with their fingers tangled in a tight knot. A few of the students giggle and point, but the staff are the ones whose jaws hit the floor. Louis doesn’t seem completely surprised, but Niall knows that’s just because Harry told him about it the day before. He’s pretty sure the entire staff takes a collective gasp when the three of them sit together to eat lunch, but they ignore it. Niall and Harry eat with one of each of their hands laced together, but Niall just appreciates finally getting to eat a good lunch.

Liam joins them the next day, sitting next to Louis, who remains completely oblivious of course. Days pass by, then weeks, and eventually the feud just kind of dissipates. Nobody says anything, there’s no declaration of a ceasefire, it’s just over. Niall hears a rumor that the reason nobody objected is because Louis threatened to use his chemistry supplies to take revenge on them, but the brunet denies it with a cheeky wink and flits off towards the gym, which he’s been spending an awful lot of time in recently.

Sometimes Niall regrets going public, because Harry will sneak into his classroom (Though Niall has no idea when he finds the time) and leave sonnets written across the whiteboard. His students all tease him endlessly for it, not to mention Louis, but he always takes a picture of each one before he erases it. So maybe he doesn’t regret going public. Maybe he just regrets falling in love with a sappy English teacher and not being able to reciprocate because Harry is really shit at math.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry about the ending. And the beginning. And the middle. Sorry for this whole thing really. I thought it was okay, but as I reread it I realized that this just really isn't good. I'm so sorry.


End file.
